What a lovely day for a game of hockey! Finally after weeks of rain, sleet, wind and whatever else the Manchester weather could throw at us we had the perfect weather conditions.

The Greys arrived pumped and ready for a must win game against Sale. Last time these teams met Greys came out the winners and the team wanted to repeat this performance.

The team gathered in the changing rooms where the lack of doors at least settled the doors or wheels debate for the day.
After a strong team talk from Captain Kat everyone was ready and raring to get onto the pitch for the warm up.

With only 11 players it was important everyone warmed up properly to prevent any injuries occurring in the game… Rachel must not have got this memo and didn’t realise the dangers of standing next to a group of hockey balls and managed to roll her ankle and fall to the floor much to the amusement of the rest of the team! Well at least we knew who was donkey and we had got any drama out of the way before the game (oh how wrong we were…)

Greys had a strong start to the game, having the majority of possession and passing game was on point! Our wingers Lucy and Alice showing some excellent J- runs and working that ball into the D it was just a matter of time before the ball was in the net.
After an excellent drive from Lou the ball came through to super-striker Zoe who placed the ball between the goalies legs and into the goal. 1-0 to Greys!!

Sale then came fighting back and after some passages against the flow of play Sale had equalised and were back in the game. 1-1.
Sale quickly got a second and went ahead, but some strong defensive work from the Greys back four meant we were able to keep this Sale attack at bay.

The first half continued with some excellent hockey and end- end play from both teams. Greys battled on and even when Lucy was hit in the mouth with a hockey stick, the team rallied round those who were playing with injuries to get through to half time.

The half time whistle came and Greys were trailing 2-1. But after a strong and encouraging team talk from Coach Noel. Greys we’re ready to go out and take back control of the game.

In the first 5 minutes Greys were back in possession and it felt as though the equaliser was coming.

After some strong play from Lou, no one could stop her and Sale brought Lou down with a foul. Unfortunately during this tackle a Sale player hit her head during the fall. Even though Lizzie was ready to take the free hit straight away the game was halted when it was obvious the Sale player needed medical attention.

(After some persuasion) Captain Webb became Dr. Webb (although technically not for another week) and leapt into action! With the support of fellow medic, Charlotte, the Greys pair made sure the player was safe, warm, reassured and that an ambulance was called. Charlotte even used the detective skills of a millennial Facebook stalker to contact the players flatmate through the universities email system.

Once the ambulance had arrived and the player moved from the pitch, Dr Webb resumed her role as Captain Webb and agreed with the Sale team that the game should be abandoned and replayed.
Alice was quick to rush off, so quickly that she left Zoe at the pitch to hitch a ride from someone else.

We were all pleased to hear that the injured player was seen at the hospital and sent home to recover and is now on the mend.

There was no vote for player as the match was abandoned but that didn’t stop the team from deciding that Rachel was definitely Donkey for her big fall before the game.